If you want them to target hostile targets, keep them on guard. If not (and seeing how Rits are squishies) then you're probably better off putting them on 'run away' or whatever it's called.
About spirit spamming, they're just using the skills how they're programmed to. They won't really think for themselves.
If there's skills you want to temporarily disable, hold down shift and click on the skill. That way they won't use it at the time. It can get annoying having to re-enable it all the time, so best to let them get on with the job really...
if u really need that annoying just dont bring spirits. but id strongly suggest just dealing with it or microing life by disabling it and clicking it manually when u find it necessary